Stevens: Is teenage success at the pro level a good thing?

Published 8:00 pm, Saturday, June 25, 2005

First it was Tiger Woods who stirred the imagination of every mom and dad who dreamed of spoils beyond belief for their athletic children.

Now we have teen-age whiz-kids popping up like divots on the local municipal golf course.

Did you check out the leaderboard at the U.S. Women's Open?

Here are three golfers in contention for a major title: 15-year-old Michelle Wie; 17-year-old Morgan Pressel, and 18-year-old Paula Creamer.

I don't know about you, but when I saw that I wasn't pumping my fist in the air and chest-bumping my neighbor.

I cringed.

My immediate reaction was a bit more skeptical and a lot more worrisome.

I see a trickle down effect that could be coming to a neighborhood near you. Can you see it happening? Moms and dads having their sons and daughters tee it up at the crack of dawn, hitting balls into a tea cup on the front lawn and playing rounds of golf until the groundskeeper kicks them off the course.

And that's just the start of boot camp.

For every kid who has a dream, and a passion, and the immense talent to pull it off and compete with the pros (like Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Freddy Adu and Michelle Wie), there are countless others who simply don't and can't.

They play sports because - hopefully - they like it. Not because mom or dad likes it. Or grandpa likes it. Or Aunt Trudy likes it. They like it.

But if you've hung around enough ball diamonds and tennis courts and golf courses and hockey rinks and soccer fields, you know that's not how it works in some cases. Sure, you have the moms and pops with the healthy attitudes, who are secure in themselves and who see sports as a vehicle to teach, compete, learn to be teammates, respect authority and - hey, here's a novel approach - have fun.

They're encouragers, not discouragers.

Then, there are the dreaded OTHERS. Yes, them.

They yell, cuss, practice for six hours a day, blow up at 15-year-old umpires, and make their kid hit 6-irons until blisters are forming on the palms of their hands. Then, on the drive home from practice, they critique every move their son or daughter made or didn't make.

It's all about THEM, not the child.

If a young athlete has the passion, they'll put in the time and get better. And if they're putting in the time on their own initiative, chances are they'll stick with it longer and get better at it. They'll develop a love for the game, and probably for their parents, too, for not riding them like a mule.

So after the conclusion of today's final round of the U.S. Open we can only hope and pray that all of this teen-age success will be put into perspective, and parents won't go looney and map out work out routines for their 5-year-old.

Otherwise, you'd better put up some wood on those windows on your house. There could be a golf ball flying into your yard very soon.